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Failure of Federation
Chapter 1
It was by no means obvious that New Zealand would join the Australasian Commonwealth, while Western Australia would not. Many observers had predicted a united Australian continent, and rightly so.
Western Australia was granted self-government in 1890, and a convention to unite the Oceanian colonies was held the next year. Western Australian participation there was active. But the Kalgoorlie Gold Rush occurred in 1893. While the newcomers were in strong support of Federation, most of the old-timers wanted to stay as an independent colony, and use the new mineral wealth on much-needed public works. The premier of the colony, John Forrest, was a strong supporter of Federation, and helped to guarantee the rights of small states in the new Commonwealth at the Convention. Before the draft constitution was put to a vote, though, events across the Pacific forced his hand.
Americans in Hawaii had overthrown the monarchy in 1893, intending to get Hawaii annexed into the United States. Grover Cleveland refused to do so. As such, about a year later, they called a convention to write a constitution for a "Republic of Hawaii".
The results of the election showed that there was greater support for an independent republic than thought. [This is the POD.] Many Hawaiians were tired of the monarchy, but did not want to be Americans either. This meant the convention had a substantial minority of republicans, instead of being the annexationist united front it was hoped to be.
President Sanford B. Dole could not dissolve the convention much as he would have liked to, and conducted it with a fairness that surprised his most ardently anti-annexationist opponents. He was receptive to compromise offers from the republicans, even though his appointees had a majority on the convention by design. In exchange for annexation being off the table for the next decade, Americans would be allowed to naturalize after only one year of residence. The Hawaiian Republic was proclaimed on 4 July 1894.
The action by Hawaii convinced Western Australian opponents of federation that small and isolated states were not doomed to conquest by larger ones. Forrest called a snap election in 1894, hoping to solidify a majority for Federation. Instead, what he got was a bare anti-Federation majority, though he had the advantage in that he faced a weak coalition of rural and mining interests with often competing aims.
Forrest stayed in power, on condition that Federation not be considered during the term of this legislative assembly. True to his word, it was not--not that it would have mattered as no other colony ratified the draft.
In 1896, a second National Convention was held. The legislature wanted to defund a Western Australian delegation to it, but the anti-federalist coalition collapsed once Forrest dangled generous subsidies in front of a few members. The delegates were instructed to demand the inclusion of a bill of rights, and equal representation in an upper house, though.
At this Convention, their second demand was fulfilled, but their first was not. Seeing as no headway was being made on that point, the delegates were recalled after days of fruitless deliberations. As a sign of goodwill, Western Australia was still invited to join.
The session of 1897 was unusually contentious. Unparlimentary language flew across the floor of the House and at one point a pistol was drawn and cocked, but thankfully not loaded. Eventually, the legislature ordered a popular convention to be elected to decide the question.
The convention was no less acrimonious: oldtimers were called "sons of convicts" while newcomers were called "sand scrapers." At one point the president had to call in the aid of spectators in the gallery to defuse an impending duel. Another unsatisfactory solution ensued: the constitution would not be ratified until a "bill of conditions" the convention issued was met. These included a comprehensive bill of rights and protections for miners.
New Zealand joined the Commonwealth without as much haggling, so the convention decided to begin without Western Australia. The Imperial Parliament renamed the Commonwealth the Australasian Commonwealth, but other than that made few substantive changes, other than to delete references to Western Australia.